River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-07-07
The Moral Unsoundness of High
License.
HERsICk JOHNSON, D. D.

| HERaICk JOHNSON, D. D.
The charge we make is that the Lii
cense system is direct sanction OF the
| evil We are seeking to restrict. and
i0rOBg IN principle. The claim we
| therefore make Is that advocacy of
License. whether high or low, is not
| justiiidble at the bar of sound Christ
| ian ethics.
The reply to this is, that under the
Common Law, before License was
thought of, everybody could traffic
in liquor without let or hindrance;
that license now restricts the legal
traffic. SO that only those licensed can
| lawfully manufacture and sell, and that
| this was the distinct ana only purpose
in putting the license law on the stat
ute books.
From all this we do not dissent. 1t
! is the truth. But it is not the whole
| truth. And therefore the conclusion
drawn from it is non SeguitUr; to
wit, the conclusion that the license
system is solely restrictive and carries
with it no sanction. Whatever the
intent of the original act, the law, in
| It's practical operation. has not only
| side of restriction. but a side of sane
| ton. 1t IS positive statute dUthOri-
cation of the traffic as well as positive
statute limitation of the traffic. The
three thousand Chicago Licenses read,
License is hereby given by authority
of the city of Chicago TO ----
| to keep a saloon. and to sell, ETC.. etc"
| Changing tile word license to tax does
not change the thing. Esau's hair
does not change Jacobs voice. Put
| ting steeple on a theateT does not
make the theater a church. Tax is for
revenue, not for punishment. We
punish crimes. not a legal business.
And the saloon business is legal the
moment it is authorized. All the same
therefore, whether we call it license,
| fee or tax, on the receipt of either. the
Government says: You are hereby
authorized. Noquibble of words can
change this simple automatic truth.
There are restrictions beyond doubt.
But this is sanction.
Now the thing sanctioned. the actual
saloon We license, or authorize. to sell
drinks over the counter by the glass.
for one year, on payment of fee or tax,
| is a moral abOmlnation. The High Lii
CenSe advocates themselves say it is
IA school of crime, 1.-THE enemy of
society. prolific of social disorder
and violence, and deserving the con-
demndtion of all good men,"
Your judgment again, good reader.
Have we the moral right, officially or
unOflicially. directly or indirectly, by
vote or speech, to authorize what we
| know and declare to be 1.-The open man
ufacturer of crimeP Would you put
your own official signature to a docu-
ment saying, by virtue of the author
lty vested in me by the statutes, |
| hereby authorize --- to pros
ecute a traffic which deserves the
condemnation of all good men!" Would
| you not sooner lose your right hand
| than give under it" the authority to
| do for one year the infamous work of
one of these licensed grog-shops! And
what is the difference between the
hand that casts a ballot for the law,
and the hand that signs license under
| the law!
1t is this fundamental moral object
| ion to the license system, that will yet
command the public conscience. Get
| it fairly before the mind, and it makes
an end of the plausible popular falla-
| cies so often urged in behalf OF license.
/ They are fallacies because they are
| half truths, truths of policy, and not
/ of principle. Here are some of them.
a half loaf is better than none.
But is it better if poison is in it!
Twenty saloons are better than
thirty" Are twenty murders better
than thirty, if in iessening the number
| by ten, the Government mus issue it's
formal license to commit the twentyl
We must restrict where we cannot
sanction. Certainly; and therefore
we favor erery restrictive feature of the
| license law. But we must not wed re-
strlctiOn to sanction; and we therefore
are unalterably opposed to the license
4 feature. It is utterly bad morals to
| restrain many men from doing wrong
| by directly authorizing few men 10
] do the wrong.
"Of two evils choose the least" Nay,
/ rather, OF two evils choose neither, if
| both involve the sacrifice of principle.
/ IL can never be right to choose to do
wrong. And wrong is not made right
/ by being made alternative 60 another
and greater wrong. And between "a
greater and less wrong. neither God,
| nor conscience allows a choice. If the
two evils are moral, we must reject
/ both, or claim the liberty of choosing
between different degrees of guilt.
Hence the upS0Undness of Senator
/ Blair's much lauded statement of the
question. in the recent Republican
/ Anti.salOon convention held in Chica-
go. lie said: las between low license
/ and no license, we are FOR low license.
| As between low license and high H.
cense, We are for high license. As
between high license and prohibition.
we are for prohibition. - All this is
sheer expediency. It would be well
/ enough on the Law of political economy,
/ If the question were one of mere poll
/ cy. But thrust moral principle into
/ the glittering alternatives of Senator
Blair, and how false and cOwardly the
| position appears. The aforesaid Anti
saloon convention shall itself give us
the basis for our principle. il formally
/ resolved, Senator Blair heartily con-
curing. that the liquor traffic as it
exists to-day is school of crime and
/ the ally of anarchy. deserving the
/ condemnation of all good men," Now
| tie that resolution to the Senator's al
| teTnatiyes, ana We End Kim saying that
I ia giren coRfiG geRcy, he is in favor
OF licensing men to keep this 'schoo
OF crime, as it exists to-day" s'de-